Mentor and Apprentice
Meet up A young man sits inside of a bus. He has medium long, black hair, and blue eyes. He wears a lime green undershirt, a white bathing suit with green palm tree silhouettes, and brown sandals. In his right hand, he holds a straight, oak wand. His left hand is holding an orange soda drink. On his lap is a small cooler. The bus slides to a stop, and the young man gets up and heads to the door. He looks around to take in his surroundings. In the west, there is a beach. Shops line up next to the shore, each one no doubt filled with a multitude of souvenirs and food. Among them, is one that the young man is heading to. He wanders the street, taking his time to view the local attractions. He eventually finds the restaurant he has been searching for. Inside in the corner is the man he calls master. The man is approximately between forty and fifty years old, is balding, and has a goatee. The young man struts up to his superior as a waiter takes his plates away. "Hey, Lester! Great day to catch some waves don't you think!?" "Quiet down, Krios!" The man demands in a hushed voice. "Relax teach, there's no reason for hostility," Krios assures him. "You're late, sit down and get serious for a moment. We have business to conclude after all." Krios sits down and tells the waiter that he wants to have a beer while he mulls over the menu. Once the waiter leaves, Krios starts the conversation. "Okay, you mind telling me why you've dragged me to a place I wouldn't expect to see you in a hundred years? The beach really isn't your type of scene." "The change in atmosphere is required for today." Lester smiles. "For today marks a very special occasion." "Do tell." Krios inquires. "I have spoken with the console of my peers, and we have decided to accept you as one of us." Krios gasps. "WHAAAAT!?? YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!" "Shhhh! Quiet." Lester demands. The waiter returns with Krios's beer, and a check for Lester. He leaves to tend to other people. "How can I be quiet!?? I've been wanting this forever!!" Krios whispers in an excited tone. "You will be promoted in two days time. When that happens, you will no longer be an apprentice, but as a fellow warlock, the youngest in our circle." "Master.... I don't know what to say.... Except, thank you!!" Lester waves his hand as he signs his receipt, and places his money down. "Now now, you don't have to thank me at all. You owe it all to your own talent, and thirst for knowledge. It is for those reasons, why we have arrived at this decision. Take this." He hands Krios a sheet of paper. This contains the location of a beach house which a fellow member owns. It is here where we will meet up for tonight at nine to practice for the ceremony." Lester gets up. "And for goodness sake, don't be late!" He heads towards the exit. "Wait!" Krios exclaims. "Aren't you going to tip?" Lester, and looks at Krios. After a moment, he sighs and grumbles as he puts down five more dollars on his order. He leaves. Krios's childlike smile disappears when his master walks out of view. "You moron. You actually think I'm going to fall for your obvious lies." He takes a swig of his beer and looks at the address. "Fine... I'll come down to your little house, and show you what I'm truly capable of." Betrayal "Are you sure you really want to do this Lester? Krios Delvia is by far the most successful apprentice our organization has trained. If guided properly, he could succeed our leader." "He is my apprentice Melvis, I know what I am doing" Krios's master and an old man are on the porch of a beach house. The sun is setting, and there is a full moon high in the horizon. The house is a two story building built on a slope. The front of the house faces the street from the second floor. As the slope descends down towards the back of the house, it dips to the first floor which has a back entrance. The man called Melvis is slightly older than Lester. He is fat, bald at the top of his head, and has a thick mustache. Lester continues speaking. "Yes Krios has proven his worth in his studies into our dark arts, but he is far too reckless. Our organization 'The Red Knives' is built upon secrecy, discretion, and long-term planning. Krios lacks all of these traits and has time and time again, proven that he acts without thought for the consequences of his actions. I have had to save him from himself more than once, and I have grown tired of it. No! I will not have him expose our operations to the world with his idiocy!!" Melvis sighs. "So be it. Krios is your responsibility. Still, I must voice my opinion on the manner of which you decide to dispose of him. This ritual of ours isn't without risk. If Krios's heart is filled with too much darkness, you will be overwhelmed. You should permit me to be with you when you attempt it." Lester dismisses Melvis. "I am well aware of the risk. Rest assured, that I know what I am getting myself into. Krios is but a simple delinquent; His heart will not be enough to pose a threat to me. As such, you are unnecessary." Melvis chuckles to himself "It seems that Krios isn't the only reckless soul in our group." "Pardon me?" Lester asks. "It is nothing... May our Lord watch over you this night, Lester." Melvis states, waving his hands in front of him as reminiscent of a religious symbol. "And may he watch over you on your journey," Lester says as he duplicates the symbol. Melvis leaves the house and heads down the road. . . . Two hours later . . . Krios walks up to the door and knocks. He is greeted by his master. "You're actually not late for once." Krios smiles "Well I thought you would like it if I started acting like the fellow Red Knife you want me to be! So can I come in?" "But of course," Lester says and steps out of the way to let Krios in. "So, where are we going to be practicing this ritual?" Krios asks. Lester points to a set of stairs on the north side of the building. "Downstairs in the basement. You should be able to find a circle chiseled into the floor; I want to see you in the center of the room with your robes on. Keep your hood up, and pray to our Lord the prayer of offering facing the south side in a kneeling position. I will be with you momentarily." "Can do!" Krios exclaims with confidence. He drops his cooler down on a table and descends down the steps. When Krios arrives at the basement, he pauses to examine the room. Like his master said, there was a giant circle chiseled in the floor, runes were inscribed on the circle's outer edge. Krios knew the symbols and their purpose. To his left, a single door led outside to the beach. To his right, miscellaneous junk put aside to make room for the evening's ritual. Krios sighs, and with a word, his apprentice robe takes place of his beachwear. He adjusts the robe to better fit him. "Probably should have showered off the seawater better." He mutters to himself. Krios cast a spell on himself, one that would alert him when someone got within a yard of him. He then takes his place in the circle, putting his hood up, and muttering the prayer of offering, making himself appear to be the perfect target that his master, Lester wanted. Krios waited for several minutes until he heard Lester's soft steps descend down the stairs. He holds his wand tighter. He chants his prayer louder as Lester approaches. "Not yet," he thinks to himself. "Wait for the opportune moment." Lester walks slowly towards Krios, each footfall an eternity to Krios. "How long does it take to cross a room," he asks himself. As Lester makes his way, chanting is all Krios could do to prevent himself from tipping his hand too early. His spell activates, letting him know that Lester had entered his trap. Krios grins as he abruptly ends his prayer. Lester, not expecting the sudden change, halts with a dagger still gripped in his right hand. Lester's confusion was all Krios needed. Spouting his spell with a shout he turns at Lester and points his wand at him. The wand glows with purple energy from within, and before Lester can think about defending himself he is entwined by thorn ridden, violet vines, completely immobilizing him. "KRIOS DELVIA!! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!??" Lester demands. Maintaining his composure, and his spell, more importantly; Krios stands up and starts his monologue. "Oh Lester, did you honestly think that you had me fooled? Or did you forget that I'm psychic by nature? Yes . . . I knew exactly what you were thinking of doing to me tonight. You thought you could guard your thoughts against me, but I've known all along that our relationship was merely a farce since day one. You only ever wanted me as your personal butler to do the things you didn't want to do. You've never even bothered to teach me real magic, like the one holding you right now. Well, surprise surprise idiot, I know more about magic than you ever have, and I'm more than ready for the world!" Duel Krios takes the knife out of Lester's hand. "So this is the knife needed for the ritual. Wow, does this thing look sharp! Definitely the kind of knife I would use to cut someone's heart out!" Lester lashes out. "Don't you dare you miserable whelp!! Have you forgotten how much I've done for you!? All the messes you've made that I've had to clean up!? You OWE me Krios!!" Krios just narrows his eyes at Lester and stares at him for at him for a minute while he thinks to himself. Suddenly, with a smile, Krios waves his wand and sends Lester back, crashing to the floor. "You know something Lester, you're right, I do owe you something. Even someone as miserable as you deserve a fighting chance against me. Bring out your staff master, I'm going to prove you once and for all, that I am your superior. '''If you want to live, you are going to have to beat me." Lester laughs. With a word, his staff appears from thin air and settles into his hand. It is a beautiful instrument. Made of a light brown wood, with innumerable runes etched into it from top to bottom. On it's top lies a blood red ruby. "You fool, you always were too reckless for your own good! This rebellion of yours changes nothing! At the end of the day, you will become a sacrificial pawn for my spell. Krios waved his wand in front of him in his right hand, while he held the knife in his left, and smiles. "The first move is yours." Lester scowls as he mentally assaults Krios's mind, trying to gain control of his thoughts and willpower. Krios easily brushes off his efforts and pushes aside Lester's influence. "MY TURN!" Krios shouts. Looking to the side, Krios focuses on a wooden table and chairs propped against the wall. With a flick of his wrist, the objects fly off the wall and hurtle at Lester. Lester shouts a spell and swings his staff at the incoming threats breaking them before they could reach him. Lester then chants, waving his free hand in the signs of his religion. Krios pulls back his wand and visualizes a spear in his head. Thrusting his wand forward, violet energy lances out of the wand at Lester at high speed. At the moment the energy reaches Lester, he finishes chanting. Lester howls as some of the energy strikes into him, but then the bolt of energy seemingly bounces off of him and rebounds back at Krios. The energy bolt knocks the wind right out of him, and Krios falls to the ground. Lester chants again, not waiting for Krios to get up. As Krios struggles to breathe, he recognizes the spell Lester is casting. Krios tries to focus on a spell, but he is unable to concentrate. By the time Krios can draw his next breath, Lester finishes his chant. The room darkens as the spell takes hold. Shadow hands reach from the ground and grasp at Krios holding him in a kneeling position and covering his mouth and eyes. The spell twists his wrist, and he drops the ritual knife. Lester laughs and scoffs at Krios. "What's wrong Krios? Weren't you going to show me who the master of magic truly is?" Lester walks towards Krios. "How pathetic. You honestly thought you could kill me with such pitiful magic. And now here you are kneeling before me. Disgraceful." Lester picks up the ritual knife and raises it above his head. "Now that you know your place, it is past time you serve your purpose. Goodbye, my ungrateful pupil." As Lester swings down with the knife, the knife suddenly pulls his arm causing him to stab himself in the chest. "Wha- what?" Lester stutters. He falls back to the ground, clutching the knife. As he gasps for air, his spell on Krios unravels. "I told you, Lester, you have a bad habit of not guarding your thoughts." Krios stands over him, his wand pointing down at his head. "You may have held my body, but while you were talking my mind was free to read your thoughts. I knew you were planning to stab me with the knife, so all I had to do was wait for you to swing your arm, and I could use telekinesis on the knife to drive it to your chest instead." Lester wheezes. "Impossible, you need to see the object you want to move in order to use that magic on it." "I didn't need my eyes to see the knife. I taught myself how to view the world with my inner eye; a technique discovered by blind psychics which allows me to see the world with my mind instead of my real eyes." Lester's eyes widen with shock. Krios smiles. "Now to finish this." Lester screams in pain as Krios once again moved the dagger with his magic, causing the blade to cut out his heart. The Ritual Krios sighs "Well.... that took longer than expected." It took over two hours for Krios to prepare for the ritual his former master had planned on using him for. Most of that time was spent wrapping Lester's corpse up and gathering the necessary blood for the ritual, as well as cleaning any blood that had spilled to the floor. The blood he collected from Lester is being held in four goblets situated on the North, South, East, and West points of the circle. Four long, blood red candles burning on top of four candle stands lie in between the goblets. At the center of the circle now lies a stone pedestal, with Lester's heart lying on top of it. Krios views his work and inspects it. He double checks to see if there is any damage to the necessary parts caused by his scuffle with his former master. When he is convinced that everything is okay, he prepares himself mentally to start the spell. He stands near the stairs at the south side of the circle. The ritual, as Krios knows it, is a summoning spell. Using the heart of a human as a base, the spell summons a Hell Hound familiar which the caster can command. Once this initial spell is complete, the Warlock can dismiss and bring back the creature at will. A handy minion indeed. Krios breathes deep and begins chanting. As he chants, the room continuously darkens until only the candles could be seen. The candles suddenly blaze furiously, causing the wax to melt and flow down the stands unto the floor. The red wax glows as it fills the circle, completely covering it and the runes. The wax then catches on fire filling the room with blistering heat. Yet despite the flames, the room remains unlit. Lester's blood begins to boil in the goblets. The flames die down, and the blood shoots out of the goblets, and arcs towards the heart in the center. The blood encircles the heart and floats in the air bubbling all the meanwhile. Finishing his chant, Krios gazes at his work. As the room lights back up, the blood takes shape into that of a four-legged beast. To Krios, the Hell Hound looks like a red pit bull on steroids. The monster descends to the floor, claws hitting the pavement with a solid tap. The creature's eyes shoot open, glaring at Krios with unending hatred. Taking its first deep breath, the Hellhound growls at Krios and lowering its body to the ground. "Success" Krios thought. The Hellhound was everything he could ever hope for in a familiar. "Finally, that old man actually did something useful for once by being a sacrifice." With a smile, Krios tells the Hell Hound to sit. Immediately the Beast pounces at Krios with its claws outstretched. In shock, Krios barely manages to dive out of the way of the Beast's path. Practically throwing himself out of the way, he slams into the ground, his limbs strecthed out. The Hell hound's momentum causes it to crash into the stairs, but the beast doesn't even flinch as it countinues to bark at him. Krios turns around to aim his wand at the Beast, but is too late. The beast is already in mid-pounce about to descend on him. Yet, instead of descending on Krios, the beast just floats in mid-air. Growling, the Hell hound moves it's legs as if it were running, yet no amount of effort propels the beast forward. Before Krios could process what was happening, blades fly into the Beast's left side and proceed to cut the Hell Hound into ribbons. Krios wathes in horror as blood splatters across the floor. After a few seconds, the Hell Hound disappears in a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing but blood, and a thoroughly torn up heart. The blades rise and retract back to the room's western side in a flash. Krios turns around and sees a large figure at the door. The New Master The man is a giant of a person, so much so that Krios thought he was an orc at first. He is bald with a scar running down the right side of his face. He is wearing thick armor and has an enormous metal backpack on his back. The blades that had taken out the Beast sheath themselves in slots in the backpack's side. The giant claps his hands sarcastically. "What. A. Show! I don't think I've ever seen someone fuck up as bad as you just did! And I've seen plenty of fuck-ups!" Krios points his wand at the giant. "Who the '''Hell are you?" "The guy who just saved your ass from being a dog's chew toy. Ha ha ha, I mean seriously! Did you really think you could control that Hell Hound?" Undeterred, Krios shouts his vine spell, binding the giant. "With this spell, I would've had everything under control! You just got in my way and cost me a minion! Now, who are you!?" Much to Krios's displeasure, the giant didn't seem concerned about being tied up. His face had the bored look of someone who spent too much time waiting in line for a ride at an amusement park, and still had to wait longer for their turn. "Sigh. Kid, the first rule of interrogating with psychic power, your first attempt should always be to look into the other person's mind. I mean think about it, what is the point of asking questions when you can just take the answer for yourself?" Irked by the giant's indifference, Krios replies back. "Well, if you insist..." Krios reaches out for the giant's mind with his own, expecting to dive into the sea of thoughts he had experienced time and time again. However, when he makes contact with the giant's mind, all he doesn't feel, hear, or hear anything. All there was, was a void, a hollow universe where no stars shone. Bewildered Krios was about to leave the man's mind, he hears a distant voice. "No, no, over here kid!" Alerted, Krios imediately locks on the direction of the voice, following it to its source. . . . Krios wakes up to the sound of seagulls squawking outside of the house. His head is throbbing in pain as if he had a hangover. He slowly gets up and clutches his head. It is morning. He's still in the basement, with the door completely open to the beach. He looks around and sees that the circle is completely gone as if it was paved over with a new layer of concrete. With some difficulty, he remembers what happened last night. The last thing he can recall is entering the mind of the giant, and hearing a voice. He makes his way up the stairs to get some water. Much to his surprise, he sees the giant in the kitchen cooking eggs. "Good morning, kid!" He shouts. "You're just in time for breakfast!! Well, almost in time for breakfast. I ate most of the stuff in the fridge already. What do you want to eat!?" Krios could barely stay vertical, but he still manages to find the inner strength to ask, "What did you do to me last night?". The giant laughs. "I didn't do anything! What happened to you is what you did to yourself!" Krios manages to sit at the table still clutching his head. The giant continues to talk. "Stop. . . speaking. . . in riddles!" He manages to mutter. The giant simply smiles. "Rule number one of psychic interrogation may be to always read your victim's mind, but rule number two is cautiously go in. Reason being is that you never know what sort of defenses someone might have against a psychic. Alternatively, there is always a chance that your target's thoughts are simply too alien for any one person to tolerate. Simply put, my brain's passive thoughts knocked your brain out. HA HA HA! Bacon and orange juice?" Krios, with some difficulty, reluctantly accepts the giant's breakfast. While he rather just kill the boisterous know-it-all, his head was simply hurting too much to even cast a decent spell. He crunches on the bacon first. "Your passive thoughts knocked me out? No way, that's impossible, you had no thoughts. You were emptier then a donation box for rich people!" Chomping into a sandwich made of french toast, eggs, and bacon the giant laughs. "Gulp. You're still out of it, aren't you? I mean, you really haven't even figured it out yet?" Krios chugs his entire cup of orange juice and groans. "Figure what out? That you're a nut-job?" The giant shoves his sandwich into his mouth finishing it, then proceeds to like his fingers. "Well yeah I am, but that wasn't the point. . . Sigh, Guess I'll just show you then. Without warning, the giant passes out and crashes onto the table. In shock Krios to jumps out of his seat, causing him to suffer another wave of pain from his head. There is a hissing sound. He looks up to see the giant's backpack to split open revealing its contents. It takes Krios several seconds to process what he sees. The backpack contains a metallic, black and green spider bot. The robot is roughly two feet in length and a foot and a half wide. The robot suddenly comes to life and starts exiting the backpack. The blades on the backpack unsheathe themselves and settle themselves to the legs of the spider bot. As they do, Krios realizes that the blades were actually attached to the spider bot by thin, very sharp looking string. The face of the spider bot raises up and activates. It has seven eyes, three on the left side, three on the right side, and one on top. The face also has a wide grin giving Krios the creeps. "Well have you figured it out yet?" The spider bot asked. It takes Krios a few seconds to realize what was happening right in front of him. "You're... You're a robot, and that man is nothing more than a brain dead puppet!!" "Close enough!" The spider bot exclaimed. "To be more precise, I am a human brain living in a special compartment inside of this robot. By that definition, I'm actually a cyborg by your societies' standards." Krios couldn't believe his eyes, but there was just no other way to explain the situation that he was witnessing. Instead of gaping in awe of the 'specimen' in front of him, Krios decided to move along to other questions. "What are you . . . doing here?" "AH, FINALLY an excellent question!" The spider shouted. "I'll be frank. I've been looking into your group for quite some time on the hunt for new worshipers! I've been working on my own cult for quite some time now, and I need people to help me get it started. I saw what happened last night, and was quite impressed with how you were able to turn the tables on your douche-bag teacher. As such, I decided that I want you as my first disciple." This confession threw Krios for a loop, but he refused to stop asking questions. "Why did you kill my Hell Hound last night? I had everything under control!" The spider bot shook its head. His grin turning into a frown. "No, you didn't. You were no where near close! You don't even understand the rules when it comes to Hell Hounds. If you can't even comprehend those, then you're going to end up dead. That dog was drawn to this place by the darkness that lied within your master's heart. To brutally oversimplify it, the eviler a heart is, the bigger the dog; The bigger the dog, the harder it is to control it. Now, had your skills been up to snuff, that dog would've been obedient to a fault, seeing you as some sort of demigod, but that didn't happen. You were already spent from fighting your master on top of not having much experience to begin with. That made you seem like a bitch to the dog, so the dog decided to eat you: Once that decision has been made, there is no taming it, you just got to put it down." Krios wanted to deny this with every once of his being. And yet, everything . . . it said, was on point. His cheeks burn red as the revelation deflates Krios's ego. The spider bot continued speaking. "Now back to my offer, I'll have you know, I'm not just any ordinary brain in a spider bot, I'm actually something of a big deal in the underworld. Look at what I can do!" The spider bot went still. The next thing Krios knows, the beach house starts shaking violently. Suddenly, the walls and ceiling of the house completely break apart into pieces and start circling around them as if the two were in the middle of a cyclone. The pieces then started to form together to create a monstrous likeness of the spider bot. "TA-DA!! You see that!!?? Isn't it beautiful?" Krios stood in awe of the what he had just witnessed. "BUT WAIT!! THERE'S MORE!" The spider bot then proceeded to disassemble the mismatched statue and return the house back to the way it was, making Krios question if what he saw actually happen. "That was just a fraction of my power. In time I could show you what more I can do, but more importantly, I can show you, how to accomplish the same feats. And unlike your worthless master's words, this is no empty promise! So . . . What do you say?" Krios stares at wonder at the spider bot. Then with a smile, he kneels before the spider bot. "I am Krios Delvia, and I pledge myself to you. What may I call you my master?" The spider bot's grin increased in size. "You can call me Velnoth."